automotive parts
Lead-acid batteries have been the standard in cars since the beginning. They are rectangular prisms too. This is a lithium-ion battery, so it's smaller and lighter. But still a box! The orange background helps it out. What do you think?
We are all part of a larger whole. The scope of the larger whole is sometimes difficult to fathom. In this case, these are pulleys, not cogs, and they have a bit of silicone or rubber to absorb shock and vibration. Smoothing out the bumps seems like a good idea in many contexts.I like the way the translucent silicone looks. It's always fascinating how industrial parts are beautiful objects with the right perspective and lighting.
Most of the time when speaking of sheetmetal in Detroit, you’re talking about the stuff you see on the outside of a car. There’s a lot of it on the inside too! This part goes behind the rear seat, underneath the rear window. This bit of sheet metal is lighter and vibrates less than the ordinary. For the purposes of this photograph, it’s just about making a dramatic image to catch your attention. Let me know what you think.
One of my favorite things about commercial photography is the peek I get into other worlds. In this case it’s the world of fasteners. Fasteners not only hold two things together, a complicated enough job by itself, but simplify, speed, and eliminate errors in production. Mostly I care about tonal values and textures, but as every photograph speaks, it’s important that it tells the right story. Let me know what you think!
Building any product would be pretty tough without fasteners. And while these don’t look like any fasteners I’ve ever seen, they are. We spent an entire day photographing all kinds of fasteners. It was a productive shoot, and I’m looking forward to another soon Please let me know what you think.
We have been forging metal for thousands of years. Modern industrial processes are used to forge a wide array of automotive parts. As it involves shiny metal, I enjoy photographing it. In this case, it’s a die and the finished forged part. I stood them up on a table top in my studio using blocks and shims. Afterwords, I put them on a brown background in Photoshop. I’m always interested in your thoughts and comments.
It works for vegetables, why not industrial parts? A simple graphic shape on a white background lets the object express itself. Lots of time spent prepping, photographing and retouching the part reveals the beauty inherent in the object that serves some other useful purpose. The beauty that surrounds us unnoticed is uncovered. I love the quote attributed to Albert Einstein:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
As always, I am interested in your thoughts.
I’ve never been a fan of large group product shots. Often, product managers are in the decision tree and want their products to look particularly good. The truth is, all a group shots with ten or more products can say is, we have a bunch of products. Or we can make a bunch of different products. Optimal view and lighting of individual parts is almost always sacrificed for overall composition and lighting needsIn this case, it was limited to 11 parts. All drive train parts, in the early stages of production. This is part of a series of photographs that also includes wheel ends, engine, and transmission parts. We shot from a very high angle with a wide angle lens to provide a more interesting and unusual perspective. As always, I’m interested in your thoughts.
I like nothing more than the challenge of making an automotive part look like an art object. To reveal the intrinsic beauty in the little connector that connects three tubes. It’s not important what it does - well, it is to my clients. I think the beauty is too. Happy New Year!
Shooting industrial product photography is often challenging. In this case the goal was to create an exploded view of all the parts our client makes for this 8 speed transmission. Working from Jim Tocco’s layout we shot all of the parts with the proper perspective, angle and lighting, then assembled them later in Photoshop. As always I am interested in your comments.
Unexpected things are a constant when shooting on location. Some of those things are good, or great, but, there are also the unwelcome surprises too. The trick is to roll with the moment. Accept the positive, and roll the not so positive things over to the positive side. As it happens, this shoot went quite smoothly. I am always interested in your thoughts.
My job is to find out what my clients want to say, and then figure out how to say it best. It’s shocking to me how many (direct) clients don’t understand this. When you write a paper, an email, a blog post, a book or anything really, it’s important to know what you are trying to say before you start. A thesis statement or an outline, even if it’s just in your head, is imperative if your writing is to be clear. Photography is no different! It’s just a visual language. PPG wanted a photograph to illustrate (say) that their new pigment is better. Which side do you prefer? As always, I am interested in your thoughts.
It takes a lot of parts to make a car and some of them are pretty small. The smallest of the parts above - seals for electrical connectors - is about a 1/2 long. Water and air add up to corrosion and failure, and these little guys keep it out. Photographing small products can be difficult because the parts are often displayed larger than they are in reality. For products that were never meant for display in the first place, making them this big exposes ALL of their flaws. It’s fun to photograph cars, but it’s fun to shoot the tiny little car parts that make them too. As always, I'm interested in your thoughts.
Most automotive parts are destined never to be visible. You can only see a battery if you pop the hood. While many things have changed dramatically in the construction of cars, most batteries are still acid and lead, same as they were 60 years ago. A123 Systems is making a lithium car battery for cars that use a “start-stop system” – mostly in cars overseas. We needed to show that this is not an ordinary battery, and showing the inside seems to do the trick. As always, let me know what you think.